Reaper's Crypt

by Mark Damon Hughes

A fantasy RPG dungeon crawl, and an homage to the first CRPG from 1975, PLATO's The Dungeon aka DND aka PEDIT5.

Somewhere in the depths of the Reaper's Crypt, a 20-level labyrinth, is the Reaper's Soul, which you must find and return to the surface to end your eternal cycle of death and resurrection.

When you first load, or when you hit New Game, a new labyrinth and character are generated for you. You can Save Game at any time; you must save before leaving the page or you'll lose your progress! You can Load Game from your last save at any time.

Your character starts with random abilities (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, & Intelligence), probably fairly weak. There are no race or class limits, you can do anything your abilities allow. But you can get better! You can return to the surface (take the stairs up from floor 1) to rest & convert gold to experience. If you have some GP saved up, you'll be able to stay at the inn and heal fully. When you reach 1000 experience, you will gain level 2, +1 to one ability, more Hit Points, and more Magic Points; each level after costs about twice as much.

Equipment is very important to your survival. You will find a wide range of weapons and armor to Take Item. You will automatically ready anything you pick up, if you don't have one, or you can Ready Item anything in your inventory. Put Down Item to stash something away for later; you should keep a spare set of gear near the start!

The rooms are drawn very abstractly, this is a game about resource management, not tactical maneuvering. As I get closer to release, the rooms and animation will get more detailed.

In each room, there may be one or more monsters (over 30 known types!) and you must defeat them with Fight or Cast Spell, or Escape (chance based on Dex), to continue.

Many monsters are immune to some attacks or have special attacks of their own, and different weapons are more or less effective against them. As a starting hint, spears and bows are more effective against animals, and clubs, staves, and maces are more effective against undead. Ready an effective weapon in a safe room before charging into a fight!

As you explore, you have a chance to find secret doors and traps (based on your Int). Heavy dungeon doors are only opened by lockpicking (based on Dex) or bashing (based on Str), and can damage you (based on Con). Escaping from various traps depends on your abilities, and they're not all deadly, just troublesome.

When you die, and you will die many times early on, some of your treasure will be preserved in a corner of that room; you may be able to find it again. You resurrect at the starting stairs, with one less level and some experience lost, and one ability reduced.

Magic

Many spells exist, but your character will only know a few, depending on Intelligence. Each level, if you can use magic you will learn one new spell of your level or less. Other spells can be found in the labyrinth as scrolls.

Each spell has a minimum level, and casting one costs that many Magic Points (MP), modified by how much metal gear you're using (up to 3x as much), and your Intelligence (at most reducing MP cost by 3).

You can type either the abbreviation or the full spell name when asked for a spell to cast.

(unimp) means the spell is unimplemented yet. I'm getting there!

abbv

Level

Spell Name

Effect

bl

1

Bless

Improves any action based on your abilities, for a time depending on your level.

bo

1

Bolt

Inflicts minor lightning damage based on your level, upon an enemy within range 5.

cl

1

Clairvoyance (unimp)

Shows all nearby traps, secret doors, and rooms, even through doors and walls, for a time depending on your level.

da

1

Darkness

Shrouds a living enemy in darkness, allowing you to escape.

h1

1

Heal I

Restores a minor amount of your lost health.

ho

1

Holy

Inflicts minor holy damage based on your level, upon an enemy within range 5.

sh

1

Shield (unimp)

Creates a magic shield around you, for a time depending on your level.

sl

1

Sleep

Causes animals or humanoids nearby to fall asleep.

cp

3

Charm Person

Makes a living humanoid become your ally, for a time depending on your level.

h2

3

Heal II

Restores a moderate amount of your lost health.

in

3

Invisible (unimp)

You become invisible, allowing you to pass unseen by living enemies for a time depending on your level.

kn

3

Knock (unimp)

Forces open all nearby doors, regardless of how strongly secured.

le

3

Levitate (unimp)

You hover above the ground, allowing you to pass over pits and trap doors, for a time depending on your level.

ph

3

Phantasm

Creates a terrifying illusion, scaring off many living enemies.

si

3

Silence (unimp)

Absorbs all sound nearby, preventing spell-casting by yourself or enemies.

we

3

Web (unimp)

Throws out sticky spiderwebs, which trap many enemies (not spiders, demons, or dragons!) for a short time.

cd

5

Cure Disease

Cures you of any disease, and protects you for a time depending on your level.

dm

5

Dispel Magic (unimp)

Removes any magical effects (positive or negative) on yourself.

fi

5

Fireball

Inflicts fire damage based on your level, on a group of enemies within range 9.

ha

5

Haste (unimp)

Increases your speed, letting you surprise and escape enemies, for a time depending on your level.

h3

5

Heal III

Restores a significant amount of your lost health.

hm

5

Hold Monsters

Causes monsters nearby to fall asleep.

np

5

Neutralize Poison

Cures you of any poison, and protects you for a time depending on your level.

pw

5

Pass Wall (unimp)

A solid wall dissolves as you walk through, and reforms behind you.

cm

7

Charm Monster

Makes a living monster become your ally, for a time depending on your level.

h4

7

Heal IV

Restores all of your lost health.

li

7

Lightning

Inflicts electrical damage based on your level on a group of enemies within range 9.

pc

7

Pass Ceiling (unimp)

The ceiling dissolves above you, you rise up a floor, and reforms below you.

pf

7

Pass Floor (unimp)

The ground dissolves below you, you descend a floor, and reforms above you.

re

7

Restoration (unimp)

Restores any of your lost abilities.

wf

7

Wall of Fire (unimp)

Creates a wall of flame which damages all nearby enemies, for a time depending on your level.

wi

7

Wall of Ice (unimp)

Creates a wall of ice which prevents enemies from reaching you, for a time depending on your level.

co

9

Commune (unimp)

Reveals the map of the entire floor to you at once, and may reveal powerful enemies.

cu

9

Control Undead

Forces an undead horror to be your ally, for a time depending on your level.

ex

9

Exorcism

Inflicts holy damage based on your level, upon a group of nearby demons within range 5.

pe

9

Petrify

Slowly but inevitably turns a nearby enemy into a stone statue.

ps

9

Prismatic Spray

Strobes fire, frost, and lightning across the area, inflicting damage based on your level (three times at 2/3 power) on many enemies.

rd

9

Rise from the Dead (unimp)

Fills yourself with holy power, restoring you to life if you die, for a time depending on your level.

se

9

Summon Elemental (unimp)

Summons a powerful elemental demon to be your ally, for a time depending on your level.

te

9

Teleport (unimp)

Instantly transports you some distance away; you have some control over direction and distance, but it is not an exact science.

History

2017-05-07

Player and monster conditions and spell effects are visible.

Kicking down doors surprises monsters.

22 spells implemented, 18 to go.

2017-05-05

In-room movement and item placement. Rooms and maps will soon get much bigger and more complex.

Monster movement

Line-of-sight visibility

10 spells implemented, 30 to go.

2017-04-21

Rebalanced floors 1-2 to be more forgiving, but still not easy.

Learn spells at level-up, spell cost depends on equipment and Int.

Styled text.

2017-04-20

Cast spells added, and 1 implemented, 39 to go.

2017-04-19

Save and Load games! This is still beta, so every major version is likely to just break save games, but I'll try to limit that.

2017-04-17

Start with equipment ready, and warn when no equipment is ready.

New layout, command syntax.

More visually detailed rooms coming soon!

2016-10-24

Weapon type vs. monster type

Themed floors

Safe zones

2016-10-23

Item icons

Weapons, Armor, Shields

Monsters protect treasure

Traps protect treasure, can apply conditions

2016-10-22

Monsters fight back

Escape

Health conditions

2016-10-21

Monsters

Player fights monsters

2016-10-20

Renamed from "Cemetary"[sic] for better search results, and to avoid me spelling it correctly/off-brand half the time.

Player name

Stat points instead of prompt for stat, makes level up flow nicer.

Doors

Death!

Traps

More stairs

2016-10-19

I wanted to make something fast and simple, so I wrote this in one day.